And Times InBetween
by Iron Lotus
Summary: Kagome has an epiphany when conflicts start to reach their worst. The results of her sudden enlightenment are far more than anyone could have expected, and the well stops being merely a door… it becomes her destiny. (SK (M ?))
1. Beginnings Prelude Ch 1

Sesshoumaru paused and looked up, his nosing twitching only slightly as he took a delicate sniff in the air. There was something amiss. He was on patrol, almost as usual, but there was something definitely different. What was it? The scent this area normally had was altered slightly. The usually environmental perfumes in the breeze were shadowed by the smell of… perspiration? Sawdust, grease, filth... and that disgusting and distinctly _human_ stench that was loaded with their loathsome musk.

Humans? He frowned. Since when had he allowed _humans_, those filthy wretches, to disturb the sweet serenity of his lands? He picked up the pace a fraction and altered his course, moving towards the placed that reeked of the ghastly, lowly creatures. 

As he walked through the thick woods, he tilted his head once more to sniff the air. There was another smell he had failed to detect before. His frown grew. He didn't know how he had missed it, but now it overshadowed every other scent in the vicinity. It was painfully clear, and so strong that he felt like he was going to retch. This was one _far_ worse than the smell of humans. 'Inuyasha.'

*-*~*-*

_And Times In-Between_

Prelude Chapter One

*-*~*-*

            Kagome happily fell onto the thick carpet of grass beneath her, facing the humongous expanse of the heavens above her. It was really a beautiful night – the sky was dark, a velvety color that was somewhere between pitch and a violet so deep it was almost indiscernible from black. The rich, deep color was sprinkled with the shining, sparkling stars that pinned the universe up, and whirls of foreign light laced between them. The moon held a silent vigil over her children on earth, sitting in the heavens in a waning crescent so thin that it was nearly a hairsbreadth thick and virtually gone from the sky. It was really a beautiful night. She sighed, a contented smile covering her face. 

            "Kagome-sama?" She craned her head around and saw a pair of sandaled feet, before following them up to see Miroku's robes, and Miroku's face. He had a serene expression on his face, but his eyebrows were knit slightly – an indication of worry. "Would you mind if I joined you?"

            Kagome nodded and sat up, watching as Miroku sat himself by her side. "Is everything alright, Kagome-sama?"

            "Why wouldn't it be?" she asked, looking confused.

            He shifted around a little, getting comfortable before answering her question. "It's the middle of the night, and you just wandered off from camp." He looked up at her and saw the soft, appreciative expression it held. "I have a right to be concerned," he said defensively. He felt the need to explain himself, for some reason, and continued, just a little flustered, "Everything would fall apart if you weren't here."

            She laughed happily at that, and put a hand on his shoulder to push him playfully. "Thanks, Miroku-sama, but I'm fine." She looked back up to the sky she had been admiring so much. "I just wanted to get a clearer look at the stars. I was thinking how beautiful night-time is here." With that, she collapsed back onto the grass to continue her admiration of the night sky.

            "Is it much different in your time?" He settled back on the grass as well, joining her in her star-gazing. He vaguely registered that she made a small sound of confirmation somewhere in the back of her throat. The grass was much cushionier out here, in the open, than in the woods, between the trees. He was half-dozing in a few moments.

            It was rare that the two of them got any time on their own. It was only a few chance moments here and there that they got, since most of the time, they were in the constant company of Sango, Shippo, and Inuyasha. Not that their presences were unpleasant, but when the rare occasion arose that the two got a moment or two alone, it was always like this: comfortably silent, enjoyable, and tickled with conversation that was either deep or important, but pleasurable nonetheless. These unusual – and much looked forward to – companionable moments were some of the most appreciated that either of them had. 

And for some reason, both felt the need to keep them somewhat hidden from the others. So that nobody would think something out of the ordinary was going on, when someone approached, Miroku would manage to grope Kagome in some form or another. It usually worked – nobody suspected a thing. Though he had begun the tradition, Kagome appreciated his need to keep their meetings of that sort a secret.

"Miroku-sama?" He heard her ask in a quiet voice, though it was loud enough to break through his sleepy haze. "Inuyasha won't stop loving Kikyo, will he?"

            At her question, Miroku's half-lidded eyes opened. He furrowed his brows, and turned on his side to face her. "Inuyasha does not love Kikyo, Kagome-sama. He loves the memory of Kikyo." He flinched at his words. As true as they were, they were also a bold-faced lie.

            Kagome nodded, and looked up at him, a small smile gracing her features. "Liar."

            Miroku smiled apologetically and laid back down. "I could go to sleep right here," he murmured.

            Kagome closed her eyes. "Me too… Let's go back to camp." 

*-*~*-*

            Inuyasha looked around him, a big frown on his face. "What was that, old man?"

            The old man looked up at him with a look of impatience on his face. He was carrying a pack full of wood back to the construction site, and he needed to get there quickly, but this impudent creature was interrupting him. "We were expelled from our town, so we're building a new one up here. It's an ideal location… there's a river, cover by the forest, and its just big enough for the village we're going to build. Now if you'll _excuse_ me." He started his trek back.

            Inuyasha felt a small hand on his arm and looked over his shoulder to see Kagome looking back up at him with those big, round eyes of hers. "No."

            Kagome frowned. "That's not what I was going to _say_!" she huffed. If the people wanted to build a new village, it was their own problem. They could do it on their own, and since there was no imminent danger around them, it wasn't like they had any obligation to help. It wasn't selfish thinking, she reassured herself. They helped people in danger or people in need – not people that were doing just fine on their own, and not even close to being in danger or need. "It's that I sense a Shikon shard."

            "It's coming from there." She pointed a finger. 'Okay fine, she thought, I just don't feel like doing any manual labor right now.' 

            Faster than she could blink, she was on Inuyasha's back, and they were headed at a breakneck pace toward the shard, and the building site of the new village.

            It was a little bit farther out than the village, Kagome determined, leading them through the trees. There was tense silence among them as they marched along. They were as cautious as they could be – their eyes darting around at every foreign sound. "There it is!" Kagome exclaimed, as they reached a small clearing.

            "It's a trap, Kagome-chan! Stay away from it." Sango warned, hefting her Hiraikotsu with one arm and grabbing Kagome with the other, pulling her back.

            "It's undoubtedly a trap," Miroku murmured, and nodded. 

            The Shikon shard was there, lying in a knothole on a great big tree. Kagome looked at it, and then up at Inuyasha, who was imitating everyone else in the group in being anxious and glancing around like a wild-eyed deer. She almost giggled, and walked up to the tree in two brusque steps, so that nobody would pull her back again, and    took the shard from the knothole in the tree. 

Everyone tensed even more, and Inuyasha was about to yell at her for being stupid, but she cut him off. "I never thought we'd find one out in the open like this," she said, releasing her giggles and turning back to the group.

            _Give it back…_

            "What?" Her head snapped up, startled, and she turned back to the tree. Everyone followed her gaze anxiously. "No," she said, determined to sound resolute and succeeding, surprisingly.

            _Please? _

"It's not yours."

_My blossoms haven't been so pretty in decades. Please give it back?_

            A smile crossed over her features. "I'm sure they'll be even more beautiful next year. You don't need this for them to be pretty."

            "Kagome, have you gone insane?" Inuyasha asked, bopping her head gently with a knuckle.

            "Ow!" She wailed, sending him a dirty look. "No, I have _not. Let's go?" _

            Miroku and Sango were expressing their disbelief and gratitude for having found a shard unclaimed in the middle of no-where, when they had been so used to either Naraku or some _other_ demon having them. Kagome laughed, agreeing that it was a stroke of good fortune. She heard, as they were walking away, dimly, somewhere in the back of her mind, the voice of the tree again. _Spoilsport._

            Inuyasha walked in silence beside Kagome. They were about to pass through the village, and resume their path back through the forest, walking in no particular direction – not that Inuyasha would deign to admit that they were just following some random course. There was definitely something wrong. There was a smell in the air… it was wrong. 

            What was it? There was a new scent on the breeze that alerted feelings of uneasiness in him. It was familiar, but it was so faint that he couldn't put his finger on what it was. As they moved forward, it became painfully clear that the source of this scent was approaching them as well. As it grew stronger, he realized what it was that was causing him such anxiety. "Kagome, stay behind me," he growled. She obeyed silently, and the others moved on either side of him, albeit a bit behind. He didn't need to be prompted for an explanation for his sudden aggressiveness. He ground his teeth together and spat out, "Sesshoumaru is close."

            "Close indeed," boomed a youkai's voice, and with a sudden gust of wind, Sesshoumaru materialized before them, stepping out of the shadow. "Are you losing your senses, Inuyasha? It took you _far too long to notice this time."_

            Inuyasha growled and was about to lunge at his brother in response, but was interrupted by Sesshoumaru's voice. "Get out of my lands, Inuyasha. I don't have business with you this time, but let this be a warning. If you are still in my territories by tonight, I will destroy you." And then he disappeared, flying past them.

The small group was puzzled for a moment before Sesshoumaru's intentions became painfully clear. The screams coming from the direction of the village were indication enough.

*-*~*-*

**Title: And Times In-Between**

**Rating: R, eventually.**

**Coupling: Wouldn't you like to know?**

**Summary: Kagome has an epiphany when conflicts start to reach their worst. The results of her sudden enlightenment are far more than anyone could have expected, and the well stops being merely a door… it becomes her destiny. *Updated Weekly* **

**AN: There's the first installment of my story. Feedback is appreciated!! Will be updated weekly, hopefully. Look for the next chapter next week!!**


	2. Musings Prelude Ch 2

Kagome looked down at the Shikon shard that they had found just the day before. A small smile crossed her features when she thought about the tree that had controlled it. 'Now, that has to have been the first shard we've found that was being used for good,' she thought with a contented little laugh. Suddenly, the screams of the villagers reproduced itself in her mind, and she paled. She did her best to suppress a shudder, but failed, her entire body trembling with the recollection. 

What had those villagers done? _Nothing. She frowned, and trembled again, but this time with anger. 'How _dare_ he? Those were innocent _people!_'_

Inuyasha turned his head a little to see Kagome fuming, an enraged look in her eyes. She wasn't prone to outbursts of anger, so this behavior was a little startling. "Oi, Kagome, are you okay?"

Her head shot up and she looked at him with confusion in her eyes. "Why wouldn't I be?" she asked, calm once more. The anger she had experienced just a brief moment before had evaporated. Inuyasha frowned but turned his eyes back to the path before them. They were making good time, and he didn't want to stall them with pointless sentimental blather.

*-*~*-*

_And Times In-Between_

Prelude Chapter Two

*-*~*-*

            The small campfire that they had set up crackled one final time before it burned out. The group had walked the entire day, and when they had set up camp, everyone was feeling exhausted. They had fallen asleep easily, Shippo curling up against Kagome's side, Sango to her left, and Miroku safely across the fire from them while Inuyasha was sleeping with one eye open. 

            Kagome turned in her sleep, the echo of the frightened cries of the villagers plaguing her in her dreams. They cried for help, for a savior, for _anyone to come to their aide. A woman's eyes widened in terror before her life fled her body, a poisonous whip slashing at the front of her body. As her eyes dulled in the pain of death, her ears rang with the deafening cry – _Kagomeeeeee!__

            "_No!" she gasped out, her body snapping into a sitting position. Kagome's breaths came in shallow pants, her pulse racing and her eyes unfocused. A moment or so passed and she stood and walked shakily into the darkness, away from the sleeping bodies of her friends. She leaned against a tree, closed her eyes and regained her breath. There was something wrong with her, she concluded. She had seen people die before, she had seen demons evaporate into oblivion; she had witnessed such horrendous acts before. And yet the images of something she hadn't even __seen haunted her. She had promised herself before not to be affected by the things she saw happen in the past – it would be the only way to retain her sanity. So why was _this_…?_

            A thought struck her. Sesshoumaru – that murderer – had just gone and killed everyone for sport. What could those innocent villagers have to done to deserve such a sad fate? _Not a thing_. And he had just gone and killed them – for the fun of it. He was just as bad as Naraku.

            "That _bastard_," she spat, grinding her teeth together. She sat down at the base of the tree and hugged her knees to her body, feeding the rage she harbored for that demon by recalling every instance in which he had ever committed a crime against her law. The hours ticked away and she got up from her niche as the sun began to rise. She walked in a shaky line, noticing dimly that the trees were beginning to thin out. "Sesshoumaru," she growled to herself, hating the man that belonged to the name.

            _You called?_

            "Kagome-sama?" Miroku placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, and her body had a small spasm at his touch, as though waking out of a dream. "Kagome-sama, we're leaving now," he intoned.

            She looked up at him and a cheerful smile spread over her face. "Good Morning, Miroku-sama. How did you sleep?"

            He nodded while they headed back to camp. "Well enough. You?"

            "Like a baby, Miroku-sama. Like a _baby_."

*-*~*-*

Sesshoumaru studied his work. It was rough, but good enough to pass his – rather high, mind you – standards. He was a practical youkai, one of purpose, or so he fancied himself. He was not wont to make decisions based upon a whim or to follow through or finished something halfheartedly. He had spent the night completing the somewhat gruesome task he had set himself to the day prior. Sesshoumaru was no fool. He had buried the victims of his night of slaughter and prayed for them. Restless souls were a danger to all forms of life, and vengeful ones more so. 

            It was rough, he concluded, looking upon the graves of the massacred villagers, but it would accomplish what it was designed to do. He stood, content to have finished such a tedious task, and took a moment to stretch out his lean body before heading back into the forest to continue his patrol. The brief moratorium had been necessary but not exactly welcome. He would have to make up for time lost today, and the prospect of a rushed inspection was not one that enticed him. Rushed work implied a half-assed job. Of course, that was merely an implication. There were ways around that.

            Sesshoumaru paused for a moment, sniffing carefully at the air. Something had caught his attention. It took almost no time for him to readjust his thinking. It wasn't a smell that bothered him. The breeze blew, and he heard a low growl floating within it. _"That _bastard…" came the echo of a voice. It struck him that he recognized that voice, if vaguely. He tilted his head to the side a little, letting the bursts of cool air that rushed through the trees hit him. A moment later, the faint voice called out through the wind again. "_Sesshoumaru…_" 

            That did it. A smug little smile spread over his face. So it was that girl – the one which traveled with his half-witted brother – that held such a low opinion of him? How vaguely amusing. Perhaps, had he been in a more belligerent mood and not quite as pressed for time as he was, he would have gone back to punish her for that slight, but today was not the day. It would just give him a valid reason to kill her later on, he mused. _That is_, he thought idly, _after I destroy Inuyasha_. 

*-*~*-*

            Sango glanced to her left, looking at the monk who sat peacefully by her side on the tanuki's back. He sat in a meditative position, his staff across his lap, and a serene look on his face with his eyes closed. A little frown spread over her face and she snuck another look at him. There was definitely something wrong with him, she determined, taking another covert peep at him.

            "Is something wrong, Sango? You've been glancing my way for quite some time now," Miroku murmured, his eyes still closed and his body remaining perfectly still.

            Sango blushed, flustered, and averted her eyes. "I was just… worried about you, Houshi-sama."

            At this, Miroku cocked an eyebrow, but otherwise remained motionless. "Whatever for?" 

            "You've been so… contemplative lately. It's so unlike you…"

            "I _am_ a monk, Sango. Monks meditate." She looked away, a deep blush on her face. He couldn't help it; he doubled over and a fit of laughter consumed it. It rolled out of his mouth in soft, pleasantly deep waves, and only increased when Sango began to stammer a protest. 

            Kagome looked back from her place in front of them, when she heard him start to laugh. She had heard snippets of their conversation, but had chosen to remain quiet, diligently doing her Geometry homework. Curiosity got the better of her and she turned around, sending a curious and suggestive look to her flustered friend. "Sango-chan, what did you _do_ to him?" 

            At this, Miroku's laughter died down somewhat conspicuously. "She forgot that I am, in fact, a monk." He straightened his robes out, and resumed his meditative position, a small little smile still on his face. Kagome sent an apologetic look back to Sango, but the taijiya shrugged it off, a smile on her face. 

            She _had_ forgotten.

            She glanced back over at the monk again, and let her eyes drift around her. Kagome sat in front of them, mumbling about her homework. Shippo and Kirara were curled up to her rear, sleeping contentedly. Then at the very front, sitting just above the tanuki's face, sat the imposing figure of Inuyasha, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes narrowed as he surveyed the land below them as they drifted through the air.

It was interesting that they had all placed their trust and safety into Inuyasha's hands so easily. They followed his lead, falling in step in their places behind him. They simply accepted his leadership – almost blindly, she thought. But it seemed most natural to do so, at the same time. It was somewhat the pack mentality, she mused. The strongest one became the leader of the pack – the one that the others deferred to. Inuyasha was undoubtedly the strongest one within their little pack, and with good reason, as well.

What was the saying that Kagome had mention to Sango once? "Behind every great man, there is a far greater woman". It was something along those lines anyway. With a girl like Kagome behind him, Inuyasha would remain the strongest among them. Kagome was an amazing girl, so much was obvious. Her eyes wandered to the girl in front of her. 'She is such a sweet girl.' Kagome sat ahead of her, bent over her textbooks, lost in insanely complicated equations and dizzying numbers. 'So innocent,' she thought sadly, glancing down at her side to see her Hiraikotsu. 'The best one among us.'

"Kagome-sama?" Sango heard Miroku's voice and snapped to attention, listening as the monk addressed her friend.

"Mm?" She replied, only half-listening as she finished proving two triangles similar somewhere amidst an ocean of calculations – most of which were wrong.

"Would you mind being a little more silent?" He murmured.

Kagome blushed embarrassedly and stuttered an apology. She hadn't realized that she'd being doing her work out loud, she was sorry for having interrupted his concentration. Miroku made a sound somewhat akin to a snort in acknowledgment. Kagome sighed and turned back to her books. Miroku resumed his meditations. Shippo and Kirara continued to sleep. Sango sighed. 

She stood and walked forwards, stepping around Kagome's clutter of books and items spilled out of her bag, and made her way to the front of the tanuki's body, where the figure in red was seated. "Inuyasha?" she called, sitting down beside him. He spared her a glance, but said nothing. She was all for companionable silence, but…Sango felt like banging her head against a wall. It seemed this was as companionable as the trip was going to get.

*-*~*-*

            He felt it. He had felt it since the day before, when they had met Sesshoumaru in the woods. Something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Inuyasha wasn't stupid – he had quite a handful of other flaws that could easily have been misconstrued as stupidity, but stupidity in itself was not a quality that he possessed. There was definitely something wrong, and he was going to get to the bottom of it. 

_"Ne, Inuyasha… why do you think he did it?"_

_"What are you talking about?"_

_"Sesshoumaru. Why do you think he killed those people?"_

He cut the memory off before it ended – he hadn't particularly liked the end of that conversation. Could that have been what was bothering her? Now that they were traveling tanuki-back, he had time to sit down and think about his little dilemma. Why would that have been bothering her?

"Inuyasha?"

He didn't need to look to know who it was. The taijiya stood by him, and he got the feeling she must have felt a little awkward standing there and waiting for acknowledgement, so he decided to appease her. He glanced at her just long enough for her to notice, and then turned back to his musings. For some reason, though, he couldn't quite get back into his previous line of thinking.

"Oi, Kagome."

She looked up from her books expectantly, and he turned his head to face her. "I'm hungry. Make some food."

*-*~*-*

_            "Sesshoumaru. Why do you think he killed those people?"_

_            "What, are you stupid? Why do you think?"_

_            "God, Inuyasha… just…" she threw her arms up in despair before commanding him firmly. "Osuwari"._

*-*~*-*

**AN: Deep and heart-felt thanks to Yokoshima-na-Neko on ff.net and blackberry on MediaMinre.org, for their kind reviews. =) It's always nice to get positive reviews, mm?**

*Disclaimer is in the Author Profile*


	3. Meditations Prelude Ch 3

She hadn't really been telling the truth when she told Inuyasha she needed to go home to take another exam. It was a bold-faced lie, in all honesty. She just needed to take a break, to fall back in step with the rhythm of her regular life. It happened sometimes, that she would feel the need to go home just to be there again… to be _just Kagome, to go to school with her friends, to gossip, to stay up late and watch TV. She didn't get the chance often, but she couldn't avoid it this time._

It was getting to the point where she was forgetting who _just Kagome_ was. It was getting to the point where she felt more synchronized with the life she was leading in the past, than the life she should have been leading in her own loop of time. It was getting to the point where she felt like being with her family was a special treat. She was losing herself in a life she couldn't lead forever. She was deluding herself into believing that when things were over, she would be able to keep going back.

Kagome knew for a fact that she wouldn't be able to, but she wanted to believe it more than anything. She knew that once the jewel shards were all collected, that her life in the Sengoku Jidai would be over. Sango, Shippo, Inuyasha, Miroku… they would all fade into the past. They would disappear into her memory, only to be lost with the passage of time. In the end, it would be her biggest betrayal of them all. She would forget them, she knew, and would finally fall into step with the life that she had let play second fiddle to her adventures in the past. 

And it was this that she feared and dreaded the most.

*-*~*-*

_And Times In-Between_

Prelude Chapter Three

*-*~*-*

            The castle was silent when Sesshoumaru returned. It was some time after midnight, he surmised, taking a look at the moon from his personal balcony before turning back into his room. He slowly stripped himself of his clothing, laying them neatly on his bedcovers. For a moment, he stood bare in the center of his room, both his good arm and the short stub of a left arm falling at his sides. When the chill night breeze went through the open balcony door, he moved to an elegantly carved wooden dresser, pulling out his night clothes and clothing himself.

            He had neither the need nor the desire to sleep, and moved back out into the fresh night air. Aside from the issue of the humans settling without permission, and the short little run-in with Inuyasha and his pathetic little group, things had gone rather well. It was usually enough to leave him satisfied. For some odd reason, though, he felt slightly hollow. It was the feeling that one gets when longing for something while having no idea what it is mixed with the feeling of being hungry and presented by such a large variety of choices of foods that making up ones mind was impossible, leaving the hunger unsatisfied.

            It was a disturbing feeling. 

            A small, frustrated frown spread over his features, and he settled down on the ground, his back against the railing of the balcony. He closed his eyes. He needed to destroy something. To utterly _crush_ and disable something. If Naraku had been handy, it would have been enough to satisfy his thirst for blood for decades, but alas, the foul creature was in hiding. It wasn't really blood that he craved at the moment, though. He wanted to obliterate some_thing_, not some_one_. 

            He stood again and returned to his room, heading toward the private baths. Once he had bathed, he would dress himself and leave home once more. He'd find something soon enough, that deserved to be an outlet of his wrath.

*-*~*-*

            Miroku walked up through the woods toward the small clearing that housed the well. He had often considered how this little area in the woods was so peaceful, giving off a soothing atmosphere that rose from the ground itself. He supposed that the cause was due to Kagome's constant trans-era travel through the well itself that had imbued it with her sweet, pleasant aura. He looked up, and saw her there, leaning against the lip of the well. What was she still doing there? He could still go back… He looked at the wooden structure for a moment, before walking forward again. He paused in front of it and sat down at its base, remaining silent. The silence remained uninterrupted for quite a while.

            "Ne…" Kagome murmured softly, and a cool breeze drifted in through the trees. "Is everyone else in town?"

            He moved to sit in a meditative position, with his staff neatly across his lap, but rested his head on the well behind him, looking up into the sky. "Sango and Kirara are on their way to visit her town again, and Shippo is with Kaede."

            "And Inuyasha?" she asked.

            "I saw him sulking in his tree just a few minutes ago." Kagome didn't move. "Ill sense him if he comes near, don't worry." That was all she needed to hear, and she took a seat next to him on the grass. He closed his eyes, his head still tilted back. "You haven't gone yet."

            She shook her head. "I wanted to get some thinking in before I did. Once I get home its all chaos for me. Why are you here?"

            "I wanted to think as well." There was a moment of silence between them. 

            "Do you always come here after I leave?"

            "It's peaceful here," he responded, a little flustered.

            Kagome smiled. "I'm glad."

            Miroku looked over at her, a thoughtful frown on his face. "What did you want to talk about, Kagome-sama?"

            She sighed and scooted a little away, turning so that her back was toward him. Then, she flopped backwards, falling again onto the grass, her head landing neatly onto his lap. He was a little surprised but shifted so that she would be more comfortable. "That thing with Sesshoumaru was bothering me." She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly.

            "Sesshoumaru, is it?"

            "All those people are dead because he felt like it. He's no better than Naraku… just killing people for pleasure."

            Miroku looked thoughtful for a moment. He was a peacekeeper at heart, a mediator. And… although Sesshoumaru was definitely _not_ one of his favorite people in the world, he was certainly not on _Naraku's_ level. This little misinterpretation of things on Kagome's part couldn't be allowed to go on uncorrected. "Maa, Kagome-sama… Sesshoumaru may not be the most approachable man in the world, but putting him on the same level as Naraku… I think you're exaggerating things."

            "Oh?"

            "He's not devoid of honor – it seems he gets a little carried away with it, most of the time, so… I guess, what I'm saying is, the logical conclusion would be that those people – well, not deserved – got what was coming to them. It don't think he'd go on arbitrary sprees of mass-murder…" Kagome laughed, looking up at Miroku's face. He was looking skyward, his nose crinkled and his hands folded in his lap, making him look terribly innocent. 

            He huffed, mumbling about never being taken seriously, and Kagome mellowed out, mulling over what he'd said. She liked that about him. He was always so _reasonable… whatever he said made complete sense. "It's never affected me this badly since that first time… at first I couldn't handle the sight of dead people, or the sound of people screaming. With the battles that you guys are always fighting… I've seen the people dear to me suffer and I've seen many, many people die… It doesn't shock me anymore. It still bothers me, but… I don't know. It's stopped affecting me so much. So I don't really… understand…"_

            Miroku tilted his head back against the well, his eyes trained on the clouds. He placed a hand on top of her head and stroked her hair affectionately. "You've always been a compassionate person, Kagome-sama. It's your instinct. Of course it will affect you…" He paused and breathed out slowly. "Maybe it did more so this time because of the _seeming senselessness of the act?"_

"Well… I guess you're right…" she conceded after a while. "He's not all evil. And maybe he did have a reason…" A small pout appeared on her face. "But I still hate him," she huffed.

             "That works," he said, his lips twitching into a smile. Miroku couldn't help it. He laughed. Kagome joined him after a moment, sheepishly at first. She could be a little childish at times, she supposed. 

            When their laughter quieted down, Kagome closed her eyes and let a small contended smile come over her face. Miroku sat there, looking down at her for a while, and then finally leaning his head back against the well, closing his eyes and letting the sun bathe his face. All was peaceful, all was quiet. It was comfortable, sitting here in this silent sanctuary amidst the trees, with Kagome for company, her head lying in his lap. He could smell the sweet perfume of her shampoo, drifting up from her hair, and it tickled his nose. It seemed that everything about her was sweet. That he knew of, at least.

            "I have to go," Kagome said abruptly, shattering their peaceful, quiet atmosphere, grabbing her bag, and jumping onto the lip of the well. "Bye, Miroku-sama! And thanks," she added, tossing him a smile and disappearing into the depths of the well. 

            Miroku sighed. It always ended like that. Just when things started getting comfortable and _really_ nice, she always bounded up and left, ruining everything. For once, he wanted to have some quality time with her that didn't end with a crash. He sighed, moving to stand and move to the other side of the well, where it was shadier. After a frustrating moment, he realized that he couldn't move. His leg had fallen asleep. "Well, shit."

            "Oi, Miroku!" he heard the voice coming in from a distance away. Miroku grumbled and stood, limping to the other side of the well. Inuyasha approached and sat down beside him. He sniffed delicately for a moment, his nose twitching. "I thought I heard Kagome here just a second ago. And her scent is still fresh. Didn't she leave before?"

            "Ahh, no. She just went into the well quite recently," Miroku intoned. "I had a brief conversation with her before she went through."

            "Brief? It's been almost two hours."

            'Two hours? Wow, that's a record-breaker.' The long silences must have been longer than he'd thought. Either that, or he'd fallen asleep during one of those long silences and time had just escaped him. He cheered silently. Either way, it had been two hours. "I assure you, it was a brief conversation. She jumped in after we exchanged a few pleasantries." Why was he explaining himself? 

            Inuyasha nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer.

            Miroku shifted around a little, suddenly terribly uncomfortable. "I'm going to go and see to Shippo. Excuse me, Inuyasha." Inuyasha snorted and Miroku stood, walking away hastily, disregarding the fact that his leg was still asleep. He felt a little guilty, all of a sudden. After a moment of reasoning through it, though, he stopped feeling guilty. Now all he needed was to find another quiet place to think.

*-*~*-*

            The first thing that Sesshoumaru had gotten his hands on was a boulder roughly twice his size. It took him almost three seconds to decimate it completely. It was all that he needed. Watching the ageless stone crumble before him into dust so fine that it was almost invisible was the most pleasing thing he could have experienced. He watched as the spray of stone dust was lifted up on a slight breeze and drifted away, shining and dark as it sailed into the morning light. 

            The disturbing feeling he had been experiencing before was gone now, and that it no longer plagued him, he felt good. It had been a simple act, one that required little to no effort, but it had set him in the right mood. He could still feel something eating away at him, like a sort of instinctual apprehension. He frowned and concentrated his senses. There didn't seem to be much in the immediate area. After a moment though, he caught on. There was the feeling of something dangerous approaching.

            He moved a hand to the sword at his side, Toukijin, and turned toward the direction of the approaching demon. It was approaching rather slowly, he realized, but waited without moving in his spot, his hand ready to whip Toukijin from its scabbard. He stopped paying as much attention to the demon's aura, when it got close enough for his senses to study. It smelled familiar, but the scent was distorted. All he could hear was steady breathing and the rapid trotting of feet as the demon neared.

            It finally approached his clearing and pushed through the bushes. Sesshoumaru's eyes widened considerably. "Sesshoumaru-sama…" said the small voice that he recognized immediately. "I'm here to kill you, Sesshoumaru-sama."

            There was no way that this was right. He had made sure that she was safe in the castle before leaving. It was an imposter, for sure. The scent was too unclear. But somehow, he wasn't so sure. "… Rin?"

*-*~*-*

**Title: And Times In-Between**

**Rating: R, eventually.**

**Coupling: Wouldn't you like to know?**

**Summary: Kagome has an epiphany when conflicts start to reach their worst. The results of her sudden enlightenment are far more than anyone could have expected, and the well stops being merely a door… it becomes her destiny. *Updated Weekly* **

**Disclaimer: In author Profile.**

**AN:  I have to apologize for the over-use of the word "breeze". I don't know what came over me when I wrote this, but I had an apparent fixation on breezes, ahaha… *sweatdrops*. Anyway. **

ALSO – I know not a lot happened in this chapter, but its okay cuz it's the next chapter after this one that things start to happen. And yes, later, there will be a healthy balance of plot and fluff. Yay. 

Thanks to Kachi-Chan, who has a website on www.darkness-eternal.net, a kickass site, which has my original story, [Trigger] posted. (You can find it on fictionpress.com, under the Author Name of Iron Lotus as well). It's a new site, but it's gonna be big, I can feel it. Kachi, you kick ass.

I would also like to thank LilNezumi LilInu and small fry on ff.net for their kind reviews. You guys rock. 


	4. Abstractions and the Well

The body of the small girl stepped forward and her eyes opened fully. "I've come to kill you, Sesshoumaru-sama."

There was no room for doubt. It was definitely _not_ Rin. Although the appearances were the same and the scent was similar – they were only that. Similar. It was not the exact scent that his little Rin had. And because it was not the same scent, it was not Rin. It was an imposter. One that would have to be destroyed _immediately. What sort of a fool would presume to attempt to deceive _him_ and get away with it? He would allow the stupid creature a slow and painful death so that it would be able to reflect on its foolishness._

The creature's assumed form moved forward, a wide grin on its pretty little face. Its eyes were dark and lacked the luster of life, but a glint of maliciousness appeared as it slowly advanced on the seemingly uncomfortable youkai lord. "Die…" came out Rin's voice – though it sounded a bit pinched and hollow.

That clinched it. Venom spouting from his fingertips, Sesshoumaru sped toward the imposter and ripped through it with the claws of his right hand. The body fell apart like ash and fell to the ground. He straightened, his eyes darting around. 

There was an ethereal sounding chuckle, and something akin to a shadow sprung from the remains of its fake form, its red eyes glittering with malice. There was an unbearable smell – like rotting corpses, spoiled food, stagnant water and blood – filling the air with its putrid stench. Sesshoumaru was about to move toward it when he heard the faint murmurs of a voice fill the air around him and echo in his mind. It laughed venomously, tauntingly. 

_You are foolish, Sesshoumaru. Did you think to destroy me? _

The wind whispered around him and the shadow being disappeared, its words resting on his ears before he turned back to his castle. 

_As if one as weak as you could…_

*-*~*-*

_And Times In-Between_

Chapter One

Abstractions and the Well

*-*~*-*

Kagome looked around her room. Her mother always left it tidy and clean for when she returned home. Somehow, the lack of disorder in the room always threw her off. She wasn't a messy person, per say, but she couldn't help but feel estranged from it. It looked as though nobody lived in it anymore. She remembered one time she went to visit Yuka after her older brother had been abroad for his studies for about a month. His room had been left tidy and empty for so long that it looked as though it were an exhibit in a museum. That was the feeling that her room held now. Empty, unfamiliar. Locked in time.

She sighed, hefting her bag onto her shoulder. She had been thinking about things _far too much lately, and it was beginning to bother her. She opened the door to her room and stepped out, walking slowly down the hall and stairs to the kitchen. "Mama," she called, and her mother turned around from her place by the oven, where she was stirring soup inside a large metallic pot. "I'm leaving now."_

"Take care of yourself, sweetheart," her mother replied and walked over to give her daughter a hug. "Do you know when I can expect you back?"

Something in Kagome's mind itched. It was battling with itself, trying to decide whether to say 'I'm not going', or 'I won't be back'. She plastered a smile on her face and looked up as if in thought. "In a week or so, I guess. It depends, but around then."

"Do your best," her mother called, and Kagome left the house. 

She sat on the stairs leading down to the well and looked down at it. On the surface, it was just a well. Just a wooden, dried-out well that was connected to a somewhat obscure legend by virtue of time-period alone. But what was it really…? How had it come to be that this _well could take one between the present time and the time-period it boasted a relationship to? _

She wondered if it was all just some big, stupid coincidence. That she was the reincarnation of a priestess that lived in that time, and that she happened to live on a shrine built where that priestess' village had been. That she had been born with the jewel inside her body. That _her well just happened to be the one that connected to the past. That _she_ had been the one dragged through it and back in time. _

A small thought flitted through her mind. Maybe there were other shrines with connections to the past as well. The disregarded it, but the idea came back again a few minutes later. Maybe, if she were to jump into the well of another shrine, she'd appear in the corresponding location in the past! It was a novel idea, sure, but if it were to hold true, it would come quite in handy. It could save a lot of time and they would be able to cover larger areas in their search, since they wouldn't always have to travel back to Kaede's village to return Kagome home. A small smile spread over her face.

'Oh, the possibilities.' 

She resolved that she would tell Inuyasha and her grandfather about it when she got back. With that decided, she leapt into the well.

*-*~*-*

Rin was surprised. Sesshoumaru had been out – still not returned from his overview of the Western territories and she had been picking flowers in the field just outside of the castle, with Ah-Un watching over her. She had been singing about wanting for Sesshoumaru to return, when all of a sudden, there was a strong wind and she found herself wrapped in his embrace.

Sesshoumaru had never _embraced_ her before. And there he was, his arms wrapped around her small body, holding her to him like he was hanging on to life. Yes – Rin was surprised. After a moment, Sesshoumaru relinquished his hold on her and stood straight. "You are in danger out here. You are not to leave the castle without my permission, understand?"

"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama…" she mumbled in reply, still a little bit shaken. "Is something wrong, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"No," he replied, turning his back to her and leading her back into his castle. He noticed that she stood in her place for a moment before starting after him. He had been worried, for sure. But now that he was sure that she was safe and had been from the start, there was nothing wrong. 

He couldn't help but feel displeased, though. Ordinarily, he would have followed the scent of that despicable shadow creature until he located it, and then destroyed it. But that _thing_… it had left no scent. He had come to the conclusion that it must have been an illusionary being, but the uncertainty persisted.  When it had first risen from the ash of its former body, there had been that _appalling smell._

Rin, somewhere farther on behind him was singing a nonsensical song that dealt vaguely with happiness. A small little smile appeared on his face. He was glad that she was intact. The thought of losing her wasn't a pleasant one. She behaved in a manner that reminded him of Inuyasha, when he was young. He had enjoyed his brother for a small amount of time, until his mother started indoctrinating the stupid hanyou with the ridiculous mannerisms and ideals of humans. Instead of educating him, she had turned him into an idiot. Inuyasha's nature had become intolerable, and Sesshoumaru had parted with him on _extremely negative terms._

Rin was different though. She was retaining the nature that Sesshoumaru had so enjoyed in his little brother at a young age. That aside, she was still adorable in her own right, and he had grown accustomed to her presence. The thought of parting with her was not one he wanted to come to terms with. He wanted to nurture her innocent spirit and watch her grow old and raise her children in the same manner. He wanted to look over her family for hundreds of years to come. 

Most were shocked at the fact that Sesshoumaru kept a human girl at his side. It was a little difficult to explain. He was not really _against humans because of their being humans. He was against everything they represented, he was against their manner of thinking, he was against their mannerisms and ideals and against their __stench. Rin had been raised by humans for the first half-decade or so, but he had succeeded in reeducating her so that she would bathe thoroughly each night and so that she thought and behaved like a youkai – an innocent one, but one nonetheless. If all humans were like her and bathed frequently, then he would completely accept – even embrace – humanity. _

"Sesshoumaru-sama?" He turned around to look at her, and she held a bunch of flowers out to him. He took the flowers from her chubby little hands and started walking again, with Rin trotting by his side with a humongous, happy grin on her face. A part of him wanted to smile as well, but he said nothing. 'That's my little girl,' he thought, and the two continued on their way home.

*-*~*-*

Inuyasha was intolerable. Shippo had run away from the village to get away from his ridiculous mood-swings. It was getting worse lately – whenever Kagome would go home through the well, he would get downright … _insufferable. Shippo dodged through the trees toward the clearing that housed Kagome's well. He liked that place – it was always warm, and her smell had permeated the ground and the plants and it filled the air. _

He wanted nothing more than for Kagome to be his mother, and although she behaved motherly to him, she was not ready for the title. He would wait for the opportune moment, and call her by the name that so itched to spring from his lips at the sight of her. 'Okaa-san… Hurry up and get home!'

Shippo reached the clearing and saw that Miroku was there, sitting on the shady side of the well in a meditative position. He wondered about that, but the answer was obvious. Sango was away, and Miroku didn't want to be subject to Inuyasha's bad temper, so he too had sought sanctuary in the most natural place one could find it – near Kagome's well. "Miroku!" he called, and trotted up to him.

The monk half-opened one eye and aimed it toward the little fox demon. "Shippo," he said in greeting, and then closed it again, resuming his previous activities. He really hadn't wanted to be interrupted. He had been enjoying the calm and peace that coursed through his body while in meditation, and the runt had to go and disrupt it. Shippo waited a moment or so more, and then Miroku opened his eyes fully and turned to him. He regarded the child for a moment before speaking. "Yes?"

 "What are you doing here?" He tried not to sound overly suspicious or spiteful, but the tone of his voice failed quite miserably at hiding those particular emotions. 

Miroku frowned. "I _was_ meditating…"

Shippo nodded. He mumbled a curt good-bye and dashed off again through the trees. It wasn't that he didn't _like_ the monk, he simply distrusted him. There was something suspicious about a man that would grope one woman during the day and then sneak off in the night to have greatly personal conversations with one's mother. 

He sighed when the village smells started reaching his nose. It wouldn't be long before he was back in the village, and back to being vulnerable to abuse from that ridiculous hanyou. It seemed he would have to go back to town and hide behind Kaede until Kagome returned and Inuyasha's mood improved.

*-*~*-*

Kagome's body was embraced by the blue mist of space. The initial feeling of falling into the well was one something akin to when you first hit the water – there was a split second of shock and then you were immersed in it entirely. Kagome had grown used to the feeling, and barely took note of it anymore. It usually took a minute or so of floating through the blue abyss of time-space before she would turn up on the inside of the well again, 500 years in the past.

She had never really thought about it before – whether her well was the only one that worked as a time travel machine or not – until that afternoon. As she floated within the azure expanse though, another thought flitted through her mind. She had wondered before, if there were other wells that could go to other places in the past. Well… what if _her_ well could also go to other places?

_You think too within the box, girl._

"Excuse me?" Her body felt a jolt. It was as though she had been in a river, swimming against the current, and then all of a sudden said current stopped. She was no longer moving, she was just… suspended, somewhere in the currents of time.

_Time and place are equal and tied together, except that place is limited in both size and degree of change, and time is endless, looping, splitting, growing and changing eternally._

"Who are you?" she asked, still speaking, even though it felt odd. She had not heard those words – they had invaded her mind. Telepathy?

_'I' have no form, no substance. There is no 'me' – you simply are thinking within the box again. I am an abstraction, not an entity._

"I…"

_You don't understand? It's to be expected. If you weren't so inept in mathematics, it would be explained to you mathematically, but one will have to settle for mediocre. _

Kagome frowned. She wasn't _stupid_! So maybe she _was having a hard time in geometry… but when she got it, she _really _got it – however rare that was. "I resent that."_

_You would. 'I' am a voice with neither body nor mind – an idea, a concept. One which you will no doubt find elusive. That is the best explanation you will receive at this point._

She wrapped her arms around her, realizing quite suddenly that she was unbearably cold. If it was an idea, which one was it? "So… what can I call you?"

_You may call 'me'… Destiny._

*-*~*-*

**Title: And Times In-Between**

**Rating: R, eventually.**

**Coupling: Hints of M/K so far, though nothing solid yet. Coupling in later chapters undecided.**

**Summary: Kagome has an epiphany when conflicts start to reach their worst. The results of her sudden enlightenment are far more than anyone could have expected, and the well stops being merely a door… it becomes her destiny. *Updated Weekly* **

**Disclaimer: In author Profile.**

**AN:  Ta-da!! The *official* first chapter! Well. Okay, I know some ppl are going to be upset since there has been little Inuyasha in this chapter, but trust me, I'm saving him up. Something _very_ big is going to happen next chapter, look forward to it. Oh! And LOOK! There's a plot emerging! Yayyyyyy! Oh, and if there are a few inconsistencies, I apologize… I churned this baby out without much forethought… just the basic outline of the chapter in mind. **

**_Thanks to_:**

**Pyroe – I love you XD . That review made my… er… week. I mulled over what you said, and you know, I think you're right. Most people prefer to read fics that have the couples already published. Thing is, I'm still undecided as to what I want the couplings to be. So yeah, I stuck that in there. Interestingly enough, I mentioned the lack of plot in the AN's of chapter three – but I *do* want to apologize again. The first three chapters were like a little prelude. Setting of the stage, and all that. To demonstrate that they are in fact, prelude chapters, I renamed them. But yes, things start to actually HAPPEN this chapter, thank heavens. And I am so flattered that you enjoy my writing! It makes me feel special. So yeah, once again, I LOVE you!!! XD**

**8Artemis8 – Thank you! I'm happy you're enjoying this little fic. Hehehe, ^_^;; actually, I'm still not quite sure of the couplings. Thanks for taking the time to actually review – you have no idea how I appreciate it!! Much much love!**

**small**** fry – You like it? *Does a happy little dance*. I'm also a fan of M/K fics… there's something sweet in the coupling of those two characters. I mean really. If you have a list of some of the good ones, send it to me!! I'm ALWAYS on the look-out for a good fic, M/K or not. **


	5. Goodbyes and the Baby

"Destiny?" Kagome's eyes widened.

_It seems an accurate enough name, for your purposes. Now, girl, you must go. There is no point in your dallying about here. You will be contacted through your dreams._

She frowned at what the voice in her head had said. She didn't particularly relish the idea of having her dreams interrupted by a somewhat secretive abstraction, which, like most people, refused to call her by her name. "So I can go back to Inuyasha now?"

She could swear she heard it scoff. _Don't be silly – that is not where you are needed._

"Excuse me?"

_Well, you will need to stop by there, on second thought. To get that ridiculous pink bicycle of yours. Of course, if you are to go and retrieve it, you are expected back promptly._

"Don't change the subject! What do you _mean_, that's not where I'm _needed_? I have a responsibility to uphold! I broke the jewel; I have to help Inuyasha find it… I need to help them defeat Naraku! Isn't that why I was brought there in the first place?"

_No, you simple little girl. That the jewel broke was your own fault – and that you got tied up in that whole adventure was self-imposed destiny. You are here because some things need to be fixed, and under these particular circumstances, you are the only one that can fix them. You already completed your first task, in freeing Inuyasha. It wasn't supposed to go further than that, but you got a bit carried away. Now you have to move on to the next task on the list._

She shook her head. Tears were starting to form in her eyes, but she didn't know why. Nothing was making sense. She didn't _get _it. What was going on?

_Why do you think the name you were given was 'Destiny'? **This **is** your destiny. Embrace it.**_

*-*~*-*

_And Times In-Between_

Chapter Two

Goodbyes and the Baby

*-*~*-*

When Inuyasha first felt the shock of her scent suddenly appearing at the bottom of the well, he knew something was wrong. She smelled like she had been crying. He didn't wait for her to climb out – he hopped into the well, scooped her up into his arms, and let her down gently on the grass. "Kagome? What's wrong?" Her eyes were puffy and red. She _had_ been crying.

"Inuyasha!" His name spilled from her lips and she lunged forward, wrapping her arms around him and digging her head into his chest. A stream of tears burst anew and she let all her sorrows flow out with them.

He was shocked for a moment, and a little frightened by her tears. He couldn't stand it when girls cried – least of all when Kagome did. His arms wrapped around her and he held her close, whispering her name in a soothing tone of voice, hoping to calm her down. He felt his heart increase its pace a degree or two, but ignored it. He relished the way that her scent drifted around them, tauntingly, teasing his sensitive nose. He held her even more closely. "Kagome… what happened?"

She cried for an eternity, until her tears ran dry. When they did, she expected him to release her, but he held her even closer. He murmured the question to her again, and she closed her eyes, blissful in his embrace for the moment, knowing it would be one of their last. "I can't help you any more, Inuyasha."

The second the words left her mouth, he pulled away from her, putting a distance between them that became a barrier to her. "_What_?"

"I can't help you anymore," she repeated, her tongue feeling numb and her lips suddenly dry. Her throat felt hollow, cottony, and she felt a sudden need for water. Parched. She was parched. "I…"

"_Why?" Inuyasha demanded. His heart was pounding so loudly that it was sounding in his ears. He wondered if she couldn't hear it herself. "You have a _responsibility_! _You_ were the one who broke the jewel, damnit!"_

_'I have a responsibility to uphold! I broke the jewel; I have to help Inuyasha find it…'  Kagome heard the words echo in her ears. She felt each one stab at her, aiming for her heart and hitting each time. "That was a mistake, Inuyasha. And I'm going to fix it."_

"But you just said –"

"I can't help you anymore Inuyasha. I will correct my mistake… but I can't do that if I'm with you –" she was going to say more, but the words were cut off when he closed the distance between them and crushed her against him.

"Baka! I thought you said… that you wanted to stay with me…"

A sad smile crossed her features, and she closed her eyes again. "I do… and I will… it's just that there are some things I have to do, Inuyasha. I have to fix some things. And… I can't do that if I'm by your side. I _will_ see you, Inuyasha. Often. Just… I can't _stay_." She hated having to say it. She hated having to _mean_ it. She hated, hated, _hated_ 'Destiny', that smug son of a bitch. 

Inuyasha pulled away from her, and studied her features closely. She had a look of determination about her, and a sad, sad smile graced her delicate features. He didn't know what possessed him, but he nodded, and looked away. "Alright," he said. _Alright_. It _wasn't_ alright. 

Kagome stood and rubbed her eyes. "I'm going to go and get my bike. If I were you guys, I'd get going pretty soon. Get a head start on things." She took a few shaky steps away, and then paused to look back at him. That smile appeared again, that soft, cheerless smile, and she continued her walk back to town. He didn't move from his place against the well. A despondent aura rose around him and he stared into nothingness. 

Kaede said little, but embraced her warmly and left the little hut to find the girl's bike. Sango had cried. Kagome had assured her that it wouldn't be their last meeting, but the taijiya didn't accept the consolation. She knew that this was a separation – that although Kagome swore she would see them again, that things had already changed irrevocably. Sango fell against Kagome and wept openly. Kagome had stoked her hair in a maternal sort of way and embraced her. "Shhh, Sango-chan…" she murmured over and over, until Sango fell asleep, exhausted from tears and grief.

Kagome stood and left the hut, only to see Miroku leaning against the wall of the hut, one hand on his staff, and another on one of the handlebars of her bike. He didn't smile when he saw her. "I'll walk you," he said quietly. She nodded, placing a hand on the other handlebar as they began to walk.

"Miroku-sama…"

"Don't say anything," he said, his voice taking on a tone that she didn't recognize. 

She turned to look at him, but his eyes were trained in front of him. After a moment, she averted her eyes and relished his silent company, ignoring the tension in the air between them. 

The sun was starting to set, she noted absently. As they headed into the forest, the trees grew thicker and the light floated between tree limbs, making a splotchy trail of light for the two to follow. The birds were already beginning to fall silent. She walked on, looking anywhere that wasn't in the monk's direction. Finally, she paused and looked over. He had let go of the bike and was standing several feet back, looking at her with a particularly queer expression.

"Why are you leaving?"

She looked startled, and dropped the bike onto the ground, taking a few steps toward him. "I have things to fix."

"Like what?" He moved closer to her too, searching her eyes for an answer.

Her eyes strayed from his face down to his right hand, and she took it in his, tracing the edges of the fabric over his covered palm. "This…" She looked back up at him. "Naraku, Kikyo, the jewel… all of it." 

"Kagome-sama," he started, but looked away and exhaled slowly. His eyes drifted down to their hands, which were still touching. She followed his gaze, and was about to pull her hand back in embarrassment, but he stopped her, his hand grabbing a hold of her wrist. Her eyes met with his.

_"Everything would fall apart if you weren't here." _

He didn't need to say the words again – she heard them clearly anyway. "I'm not leaving you, Miroku-sama…" she paused, shaking her head, trying to get rid of the guilty feeling building up inside of her. She didn't want to cry again. "I'll just be helping in a different way. I'll actually _be_ helping…" she managed to say.

Miroku nodded. He pulled on her wrist, and she tumbled into him, her body colliding with his. He wrapped his arms around her for a brief moment, hugging her warmly before pulling away and moving to pick up her bike. "You have to come back anyway," he said, his voice light once more. "You're going to bear my children, after all!"

She laughed and punched his arm playfully, a sheepish smile on her face. She moved to go back to the other side of the bike, but her grabbed her wrist and smiled at her. "No barriers", he said. She stayed by his side, him leading the bike along, his staff in her free hand. They held hands until they got to the well. By the time that they did, Inuyasha was nowhere in sight.

*-*~*-*

_Must it be explained to you again__? Heavens, girl, you can be so dense._

Kagome shook her head and looked through the branches of the tree once more. "Okay, okay, I'll drop it," she muttered, and looked down. The ground was so far below her that she was certain Destiny was trying to kill her. She bent her knees and grabbed onto the trunk of the tree, making her slow and dangerous journey toward the safety of solid ground. She had expected that once she jumped through the well, she would appear at the bottom of _another well near her destination. _

Alas, it was not so. Destiny was cruel. She had gone through the well and appeared at the top of the tallest tree that anyone's sick mind could have imagined. By the time that she made it to the bottom, her knees and palms were so cut up that she wondered if she had any skin left on them at all. "Now I need to get a healer. Damn it, it _stings!"_

_You're a miko, right? Use your powers to heal yourself. _

Kagome had the urge to scream just then. "I don't know _how! I'm not trained in these sorts of things."_

_Well, figure it out, then!_

"Cant I just get the town miko to do it? She'll know what she's doing…"

_Don't be stupid, girl. The village miko is not there. That's why you were brought here in the first place. Now heal yourself, and get to it_! You don't have all the time in the world you know. Well, you do, really, but… just move it.__

Kagome grumbled and looked down at her knees like she'd never seen them before.  A small sigh escaped her lips and she stuck her hands out in front of her, hovering just an inch from the broken, bleeding skin on her knees. She closed her eyes and concentrated, and after a suitable amount of time, slowly letting one eye open and looked down. Nothing was happening.

"Oh, just work, damn it!" She cried in exasperation and hoped for all the world that her stupid miko powers kicked into gear. Minutes passed, and nothing happened.

_You are incompetent. The voice sighed into her mind and spoke again. _Just go into town and do what you are meant to. You can work on disciplining your powers some other time. Go on.__

She staggered to her feet and made her way to the village. She walked quickly, ignoring the sting that tormented her damaged hands and knees. Random bursts of thought flitted through her mind, and she found herself wondering why in heaven's name she had acquiesced to separate from her friends and aide some crackpot abstraction to achieve a somewhat obscured end. After a moment, she revised the thought. 'I'm the only crackpot here,' she sighed. But it made sense. 

At least… it had when she had agreed to it. "Was I high when I agreed? Please, tell me. Why am I doing this again?" she groaned.

_Must it be explained to you again__? Verbal contract is binding – there's no backing out now. You're stuck, so Good Heavens, girl, just let it go._

*-*~*-*

Sesshoumaru raced through the forest, heading toward the east. He dashed through the forest, either dodging or destroying obstacles in his path. A frown took place on his features and he heard the healer's words echo through the recesses of his mind – "_There is really nothing _I_ can do, my liege… you must find a miko to cure this disease. It need not be a terribly powerful one – it's just that miko energy is sort we need to heal her. Any miko will do – but Misumi is the best_". 

Sesshoumaru's pace increased. He had little time to waste – Rin's condition worsened with every breath she took, and he would _not be without her. He could smell the village as he approached it, its stench increasing in intensity every inch closer he got to it. He slowed to a walk as he neared the village's outskirts. The first villager he saw was his unsuspecting victim – Sesshoumaru grabbed him by his throat and raised him into the air. _

"Where is the miko Misumi?"

The man struggled and writhed in Sesshoumaru's hold, gasping for breath. Sesshoumaru dropped him unkindly and the man prostrated himself before the youkai lord's feet. "He is not here," he managed to sputter as his body trembled and shook violently with fear. "There is another miko here in her stead."

'She's not here?' Sesshoumaru did not like what the villager was saying, and was tempted to kill him. Alas, there was no time. "Is she competent?"

"Extremely so. She is delivering my sister's baby just now."

He approached the hut with a baleful expression on his face. It reeked of sweat, blood and tears. The screams of pain emanating from within were puncturing his hypersensitive eardrums. He moved toward the door, standing in its frame to watch.

The patient's bed was angled so that he could only see the miko's back and the feet of the woman to which she attended. He heard her coo words of comfort to the young, birthing woman. He turned his back on the scene impatiently and waited. A quarter of an hour more ticked by and the baby was finally borne from his mother's womb. He heard the miko speak briefly to one of her attendants and then turn to comfort the new mother. When she finally had the baby in her arms, clean and squirming about, Sesshoumaru repositioned himself to catch the miko as she left the hut.

"What are you going to name him?"

After a moment of deliberation, the woman replied in a voice full of wonder at the small creature in her arms. "After his grandfather, I think. Onigumo."

He heard the miko's heart stall momentarily and she caught her breath. 'Shock?' The miko resumed her breathing and cast a weak smile on the mother. "I'm sure he'll be just fine, Ruka-chan. Onigumo… it's a…" she fumbled for words. "A _strong_ name." The mother giggled in response and turned back to coo at her baby.

The miko busied herself about the room for a minute or so more before finally turning to leave. Just as she left and was about to pass him, he reached out and caught her arm. She spun to face him and her face blanched, her eyes widening. She didn't move, and her breathing became shallow. 

This time, he too experienced the symptoms of shock. How could he not have recognized it before?

"You're…" suddenly her eyes steeled and she tried to pull away, reaching behind her with her free hand to grab an arrow. She was foiled in both plans – he held fast to her arm, and her hand encountered empty air. Where had she left her bow and arrows? She had had them before, when –

"Where is Inuyasha?" he bit out.

Sesshoumaru was not exactly a fan of surprises, and this was a _very_, very unpleasant one. How was it that he had not recognized her? It took little for him to realize why. It seemed that the only things about her that _hadn't changed were her eyes – steeled over with resolve – her mane of midnight locks, tumbling over her back, and the fiery, defiant aura that swirled around her. _

Her scent was not as strong as before – it was not heightened by fear or rage, and lay hidden, drowned out by the disgusting smell of perspiration and blood that had clung to her during the delivery. Her voice was different as well – he found it a lot more tolerable when she wasn't screeching self-righteously about his alleged injustices to his half-brother. She was clothed in the proper red and white miko attire, as well, instead of that ridiculously impractical and indecent getup she had worn before. 

And the most important change – no Inuyasha. He was completely unable to sense the stupid hanyou, and the fact disturbed him. He was forced to draw a conclusion, and the girl affirmed it with her next statement.

"He's not here," she responded, her eyes changing for a moment, and then hardening once more. "What do you want?"

"I have no time for your impertinence," he snapped. "You are a qualified miko. This Sesshoumaru requires a service of you."

*-*~*-*

Inuyasha looked up when he heard Miroku and Sango approach. Miroku frowned deeply when he saw Inuyasha shake his head. "His scent disappears here," he said in a scratchy voice. Shippo had disappeared. Inuyasha had followed the fox cub's scent until the well, and it disappeared at the lip of it. "You don't think he went with _her, do you?"_

Sango felt the overwhelming urge to want to smack him. He had not said Kagome's name at all since her departure the day prior, referring to their friend and former companion simply as 'her'. She settled on merely glaring at the hanyou, and nodded.

Miroku shared her sentiments. "That seems to be the most logical conclusion that one could draw." He walked over to the well and looked down into it for a moment, swallowing a lump that threatened to rise in his throat. "The question is: how is it that he was able to go through the well after her?" A subdued silence fell upon the group. The mutual realization that the cheerful fox would no longer be accompanying them fell over them, and they each took the moment to mourn the loss of his company.

Inuyasha stood with a 'keh' and started walking out of the clearing. Miroku and Sango watched him as he was leaving, slightly confused. "Oi, hurry up. We're leaving," he called without turning around.

The other two stood and looked back at the well before somewhat reluctantly following Inuyasha. Miroku paused just before leaving the clearing, and bowed his head respectfully in the well's direction. Kagome was gone, and Shippo with her, apparently. Their tight-knit group was slowly coming apart, and he grieved for the loss of their pleasant and relaxing company. He would miss her a great deal. He would simply have to redouble his efforts to get her to himself when she came to visit them. Farther ahead, the same thoughts – thought slightly more intense – coursed through Inuyasha's mind. 

*-*~*-*

The girl was perceptive, at least. She had seemed to understand his urgency and asked no questions. She had also seemed to understand that resisting him was a pointless venture, and had gone with him peacefully and quietly, much to his contentment. She would cure Rin of her mysterious ailment, he would interrogate her to get some much-needed answers, and he would return her to the town where he had found her. No doubt Inuyasha would make a foolish attempt to rescue her from harm, despite the fact that there was none. That is – she would come to no harm unless she was foolish and decided to deserve it. She was doing him a service, and he was an honorable man.

When they had reached Rin's room, he had dropped her rather unceremoniously on the ground outside of the door. She had stood with all the dignity that she could muster, and looked up at him silently, speculatively. He decided she must have been waiting for instructions, so he had decided to give her some incentive. "I will not hesitate to destroy you, should you fail, human."

She had looked him in the eyes with an intense resolve, and said, "I never fail," before walking into the room.

He had been about to follow when the door was shut right in his face. He let the offense go, promising to punish the impudent wench for it once Rin was well. He opened the door enough to see inside, and watched. A minute had passed by where the girl had done nothing but stare at his ward. He had been about to yell at her when she moved. A slight bit of confusion overcame him when he saw her uncover the young girl and push her into a sitting position, sliding into the bed behind her. She had cradled the ailing girl in her arms, on her lap against her chest, and closed her eyes and hugged her close. After a few tense moments of nothingness, he saw the miko shimmer. She was glowing a soft pink, the light radiating from her body and enveloping the girl in her arms. 

"It's unorthodox," the healer had said, from where had stood by Sesshoumaru's side, "but if it works, it works." 

It had been just over three hours since she had entered the room. Sesshoumaru stood across the hall from the door, staring t it. His every sense was alert, waiting to hear movement from within so that he could ease his anxiety by knowing the girl's state of health. He was surprised when the door opened and the miko toppled forward, using the doorframe to support herself. He hadn't heard her get up.

"She'll be alright," she said, a tired smile appearing on her wan, drained features. "She's sleeping now." She inhaled sharply, and her eyes closed. Her body crumpled to the ground as she fell into an exhausted faint. Sesshoumaru moved her body out of the doorway and laid it at the foot of Rin's bed, sitting down on it to look at the little girl he'd been so anxious for.

Her sleeping face lay calm and restful, a slight blush on her cheeks from the temperature she was running. He touched her forehead and was pleased to see that the temperature had dropped substantially. A smile spread on his face and he felt relief wash over him. She was alright now. Planting a small peck on her forehead, he stood and grabbed the miko's unconscious body, hefting it over his shoulder.

*-*~*-*

**Title: And Times In-Between**

**Rating: R, eventually.**

**Coupling: Hints of IY/K, M/K. Coupling in later chapters undecided.**

**Summary: Kagome has an epiphany when conflicts start to reach their worst. The results of her sudden enlightenment are far more than anyone could have expected, and the well stops being merely a door… it becomes her destiny. *Updated Weekly* **

**Disclaimer: In author Profile.**

**AN:  Okay, some notes on this chapter. I know there are a few holes but they will be filled in eventually. It was really hard writing this chapter. There were some things that had to happen, and it was really hard to keep things going in the direction I wanted them to, hence the somewhat sad low quality of the chapter. **

Also, this chapter is about the length that the other chapters will be in the future. The prelude chapters were shorter, somewhere along 2,000 words. This one almost made it to twice that length. (Yowza!) Thanks for reading and reviewinnnng!! If anyone can help me think of a better summary, I'd love you forever.

**_Thanks to_:**

**small fry – You're special and I love you. I have read that story before… but I lost it, sadly. Thanks for finding it for me agaaaaain! XD Much love, you're the bestest.**

**Morlana – Hey, thanks! I really appreciate it. I don't really have an update list… but I'll pretend I do, ehehe… ^_^**


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